CP2412-23 Adoption Video Services

Adopt South West (ASW) Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) has been established to meet the government agenda for regionalising adoption as set out in the Education and Adoption Act 2016 more detail can also be found in the Department for Education (DfE) Regionalising Adoption June 2015 .

ASW operates across the Local Authority areas of Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council, Somerset Council and Torbay Council.

ASW aims to improve the number of placements available for priority children.

The provider of the service will support ASW's vision to achieve improved outcomes for children and families. ASW will create a system where children are matched with the most suitable adopter as quickly as possible, as part of this ASW are seeking to commission the service of the production of professional video recordings of certain children waiting for adoption.

ASW will determine and identify those Children and Young People for whom the video recordings would be the most beneficial, this will, in the main, be for those Children and Young People who may be more difficult to place. This may for example be sibling groups, or individuals due to their age, or indeed complexity of need.

The video recordings will be used in a number of ways to support the placement of children for adoption and permanence. For example, they will be shown at Family Finding evenings, and possibly through online portals. It is important to note that in line with best practice, all the video recordings must be appropriate for the Child to view, they will be shared with the child as part of their life story work at the appropriate time. They must also be sensitive towards the Child's family of birth due to the possibility that they may access it.